Site Mobile Navigation

The Dynasty Is Official

JACKSONVILLE, Fla., Feb. 6 - Under a black sky lighted bright along the St. Johns River, New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady held a football aloft in his right hand Sunday night. This is the lasting image of a team lording it over the National Football League, Brady in control of an efficient machine seemingly without defect.

With Brady guiding the Patriots past every obstacle, New England broke a tie in the fourth quarter and defeated the Philadelphia Eagles, 24-21, in Super Bowl XXXIX at Alltel Stadium on Sunday for their third championship in four seasons.

Boston, a city once haunted by a cursed baseball team and an irrelevant football team, has been rendered the hub of the professional sports universe in the new millennium. New England has won back-to-back Super Bowl titles, adding to the giddiness over the Red Sox' winning their first World Series since 1918 last October.

Only the Dallas Cowboys and the San Francisco 49ers, with five titles apiece, and the Pittsburgh Steelers, with four, own more Super Bowl championships than New England's three. Dallas is the only other team to win three Super Bowl titles in four seasons.

"This truly belongs to these players," Patriots Coach Bill Belichick said after raising his postseason coaching mark to 10-1, one victory better than the mark set by Vince Lombardi, who coached the Green Bay Packers to five N.F.L. titles in the 1960's. "They've met all comers this year and played their best in the big games."

The Patriots' owner, Robert K. Kraft, said, "I'm proud we were able to win this Super Bowl stressing team, not individuals."

Patriots receiver Deion Branch was named the game's most valuable player. His 11 catches tied a Super Bowl record, and his receptions totaled 133 yards.

The Patriots' run, forged by a coach without peer and versatile players with high football I.Q.'s, is storming through a salary-cap era intended to foster equality in the league. New England has won 34 games and lost 4 over the past two seasons.

Brady, a sixth-round pick in the 2000 draft, is the first quarterback to start and win three Super Bowls before his 28th birthday. He is unbeaten in nine postseason starts.

Beginning Monday, however, Belichick must find a replacement for his offensive coordinator, Charlie Weis, who will coach at Notre Dame next season, and his defensive coordinator, Romeo Crennel, who accepted the Cleveland Browns' coaching job after the game. As the final seconds ticked away, the three coaches huddled together on the sideline and shared a long goodbye.

Belichick called the coaches two of the best he had ever worked with. The first time all three shared a coaching staff was in 1990, with the Giants.

"Not only as coaches, but as friends it kind of hits you," Crennel said. "This game is about change."

On Sunday, for the first time, the Super Bowl was tied entering the fourth quarter. The Patriots broke the 14-14 tie on a 2-yard touchdown plunge by Corey Dillon, an off-season pickup from the Cincinnati Bengals. They pulled away when Adam Vinatieri made a 22-yard field goal with 8 minutes 40 seconds left for a 24-14 lead.

The Eagles struck back when Donovan McNabb uncorked a 31-yard touchdown pass to receiver Greg Lewis with 1:48 left, cutting New England's lead to 3 points -- the margin of all three of the Patriots' Super Bowl victories. But the onside kick by David Akers bounced to Patriots tight end Christian Fauria, and a final Philadelphia comeback fell short when McNabb threw his third interception of the game.

McNabb was 30 of 51 passing for 357 yards and 3 touchdowns.

Brady completed 23 of 33 passes for 236 yards and 2 touchdowns with no interceptions.

An error has occurred. Please try again later.

You are already subscribed to this email.

"We have never really self-proclaimed us as anything," Brady said when asked if New England qualified as a dynasty. "We have a great coach, we have a great owner, and we try to express to everybody what this team is all about. I know it's cliché, but we are a team. In four years I've never had a receiver say he doesn't get enough balls or a running back say he never gets enough carries."

Patriots linebacker Tedy Bruschi, who intercepted a pass, said of New England's place in history: "Other people can talk about it. We don't mind, but we're excited about what we've done right here, right now. It's such a great feeling."

In the third quarter, Brady went to the air often, hooking up with Branch for a 27-yard gain to the Eagles' 38. Two plays later, on third-and-10, he hit Branch for 15 and then found him again to the 2.

Brady then changed targets. He found linebacker Mike Vrabel -- one of Belichick's interchangeable parts, inserted in the goal-line offense -- in the end zone for a touchdown for a 14-7 lead with 11:04 left in the third quarter.

Vrabel also caught a touchdown in the Super Bowl victory over the Carolina Panthers last year. He has five career catches, all for touchdowns.

Philadelphia responded to New England's challenge with McNabb surveying the Patriots' secondary and picking it apart.

From the New England 10, McNabb spotted running back Brian Westbrook streaking through the back of the end zone. McNabb rifled a pass between two defenders and Westbrook pulled it in for a touchdown, tying the score at 14-14 with 3:35 left in the third quarter.

The majority of the 78,125 fans were rooting for the Eagles, and they roared their approval.

"We made it close, we just couldn't pull it out," McNabb said. "But I'm going to hold my head high. With all we went through, I think it was a successful year."

Philadelphia Coach Andy Reid said: "You had two great teams playing each other, and you can't turn the ball over. That's the name of the game."

Against the Patriots' wizardry, the Eagles needed command performances from their stars. After a week of proclaiming himself healed, receiver Terrell Owens was the last Eagles player out of the tunnel just before kickoff. He walked out with head high, taking in the scene. Owens would not sit this night out despite sustaining a high-ankle sprain and fractured fibula in his right leg on Dec. 19.

"Nobody but me knew that I was going to play this game," said Owens, who caught 9 passes for 122 yards.

In the second quarter, McNabb started finding a rhythm with his throws. From the Patriots' 6, McNabb rocked in the pocket and fired waist high and Smith corralled the pass for a touchdown, giving the Eagles a 7-0 lead with 9:55 left in the second quarter.

The Patriots bounced back with a long march late in the half. From the Eagles' 4, Brady looked down the middle. Fauria had slipped to the ground, so Brady looked left, but the Eagles' secondary was stacked there. Finally, with rushers closing quickly, Brady looked right and found David Givens alone in the end zone for a touchdown that tied the score at 7-7 with 1:10 left in the half.

Givens celebrated by standing on the ball and waving his arms like a bird, mocking one of Owens's many touchdown celebrations.

For Philadelphia, a city deprived of a professional championship since 1983, the drought continues. The Eagles broke through the barrier of the N.F.C. championship game after three straight defeats, but their ride ended here.

It was thwarted by Belichick and Brady, Bruschi and Branch, men etching their names into history.